Restaurant owner accused of fraud released

Obtained business license

A wanted owner of a Martinez restaurant turned himself in Tuesday and was discovered to be operating the restaurant without a license.

Gregory Allen Glover, 45, of Valhalla Drive in Martinez, was wanted on two counts of financial identity fraud and turned himself in to authorities Tuesday afternoon. He was released from the Columbia County Detention Center Tuesday evening after posting a $15,200 bond, according to jailers.

Glover never applied for permits before opening St. Louis Original Hambur­gers on Furys Ferry Road in early April, but did have certification through the health department, according to Columbia County Development Services Division Director Richard Harmon.

After being released from jail, Glover went to Harmon’s department Wednesday morning and paid $190 cash for his occupational tax, commonly referred to as a business license. The license was issued only after a code enforcement officer and health department inspector checked the restaurant and cleared it, Harmon said.

Glover, reached by phone Wednesday, said he couldn’t speak with a reporter. He directed questions to his attorney but hung up without giving his lawyer’s name.

The fraud charges stem from two incidents where Glover used someone else’s Social Security number to open or try to open business bank accounts.

On Aug. 16, the manager of First Bank at 375 Furys Ferry Road said that Glover tried to use a Sylvester, Ga., woman’s Social Security number to open a business account. Glover previously opened business accounts at the bank in 2004 and 2007 under the name Southern Builders and Land Developers. He was listed as the owner and signer.

Once the manager confronted Glover with the fact his Social Security number didn’t match the previous accounts, he claimed a bank personnel made an error setting up those accounts. He then quoted the fraudulent number as his own.

On Wednesday, a representative of First Citizens Bank on Baston Road in Martinez, told authorities that Glover opened a business account for the restaurant on March 26 using his Federal Tax ID number. The bank employee said Glover asked for a debit/credit card for the account. The employee explained to Glover that he needed a Social Security number for the card.

The employee said she later discovered that the Social Security number Glover provided wasn’t his and a check revealed that it belonged to a Glensdale, Pa., man. When contacted by police, the man said he doesn’t know Glover and never gave him permission to use his personal information.

The incidents led to Glover’s third arrest in Columbia County. He was arrested in June 2009 after refusing to pay a local plumbing company the total amount the owner said Glover owed for work his company did for Glover.

Glover was arrested later in 2009 on a charge of deposit account fraud at Howard Lumber Co. and counts of deposit account fraud, negotiating a fictitious check and first-degree forgery at F&M Bank in Martinez. He pleaded guilty to one count of deposit fraud in a 2011 plea deal in which he was put on three years of probation and ordered to pay a fine and restitution.